The freedom from Samsu was utter bliss; Eliana finally felt able to relax without fear that she might be summoned at any moment or called to audience at a minute's notice. She could even stop taking her herbs at last, after forcing down the bitter drink every day without fail since Samsu's assault on her during their first Akitu in Babylon.
Though she adored children, the idea of carrying any child of Samsu's was utterly abhorrent. The thought that she might not be able to love it as well as she loved her children by Ashan terrified her – she could not bear to imagine that the child might suffer any sort of emotional neglect just because of its paternity. It was far safer to prevent any such child from ever existing.
At first, Samsu had been mystified by her failure to conceive, then he had been angry, and finally, after several years, he had accepted it. He still took her to his bed once or twice a week for sport, but she believed he had resigned hope of Eshu ever having brothers.
It was quiet in Samsu's absence. The palace felt deserted – it was possible to walk through a whole wing without hearing anything but the eerie whistle of the wind through the passageways.
The weather was beginning to turn – the temperature was dropping and the wind was rising as the season changed. When Eliana took her daily walks in her rooftop garden, she was forced to wear a cloak to keep out the biting chill. Still, she made sure that she took a walk every day. Knowing that Samsu could not call on her meant that it was little matter if she was windswept or rosy-cheeked – there was no-one around to care.
It was as she took one of these walks, just a few days after the army had marched out, that Adra came running and screaming for her; eyes wild, and hairline damp with sweat.
'Your Highness!' she called, racing out to the garden.
'Adra? What is it?' Eliana shouted back, every nerve suddenly alive with fear.
'It's Eshu,' the girl panted, 'he's had a fall.'
Eliana's heart seemed to stop beating, and the world around her slowed down. 'What do you mean, "a fall"?' she pressed, urgently. 'Is he alright?'
Adra shook her head, 'Down some stairs... he's, he's hurt...'
Grabbing the maid hard by the shoulders, suddenly blind with panic, Eliana cried, 'where?'
'He's in the account-keeper's office – it was the nearest room...'
Eliana was off at a sprint, tearing along without a moment's hesitation towards the small office on the ground floor of the palace.
Why was he near the account-keeper's office? He knows not to go to this side of the palace – it's almost deserted most of the time. What could have taken him there? Dozens of questions chased through her mind, almost drowned out by one overriding thought: please be alright. I beg you Ishtar, please let my little boy be alright.
She burst through the door of the little office, not knowing what to expect, her heart hammering so hard that it gave a burning sensation in her chest.
Eshu was not there.
Where she had expected to find her little boy, her darling prince, twisted and injured, there were only two men. Young men, by their stature and posture, probably servant boys, by their clothes, but it was impossible to tell for sure; they had lengths of cloth tied around the lower halves of their faces.
The door slammed closed behind her. She wheeled around – a lined and careworn face stared back at her: neat grey hair smoothed back beneath an oversized headdress, malicious eyes glinting above pursed lips.
Susa.
'What are you doing?' Eliana tried to keep her voice calm, steady. 'Where is my son? What have you done with Eshu?'
'Your son has come to no harm,' said Ani, from the corner. 'You, however...'
With a vicious grin, baring her teeth like fangs, Susa said, 'You have stood in my way for too long, whore. They can call you queen, dress you in gold and silks, but you'll never be more than the jumped-up daughter of a petty official. It's time you made way for a true queen.'
Despite the rising tide of fear for herself, Eliana was overwhelmed with relief to hear that Eshu was not injured. The truth of the situation began to dawn on her though: she had rushed headlong into a trap.
'I am the true queen, and have been so for these past eight years,' she said. 'You have been silent on the matter until now. Why would you suddenly choose to start creating trouble?'
'Because suddenly, my husband is leagues away from here, and occupied with more pressing concerns than the safety of his little whore. I have been a good, accepting wife for so long now that he will never suspect my involvement.'
'Who else would he suspect?' Eliana tried. 'You'd be a fool to think you'll get away with it.'
'But we will,' smiled Susa, her voice full of malevolence. 'You are like a cornered rat. These men will take you and do their work – the physician will tell my husband what I pay him to say about the cause of your death, and you will be interred and well out of the way before Samsu ever hears a whisper of your demise.'
Panic began to flutter again in Eliana's chest. She forced it down, telling herself to remain calm.
She opened her mouth to reply, to try to talk some sense into Susa, but a hand seized her arm through the cloak, and a second pair of hands clutched at her waist.
Immediately, she began to writhe, twisting and bucking like a frightened horse. By sheer fluke, she caught one of her assailants in the shin with the heel of her foot; he let go of her, crying out in a voice barely broken into manhood.
With one more determined twist, she slipped from her cloak and ran for the door. Susa tried to grab her, but she easily sent the older woman flying against the wall with a powerful shove, wrenched the door open and fled.
She ran blindly, not caring where her feet took her, hearing the slap of sandals against the tiles behind her, hot on her heels.
Darting around a corner, first left, then right, sprinting down a corridor and up a curving flight of stairs, along one passageway, around another corner, up another passageway, down a flight of stairs, across a courtyard, vaulting over a low wall and charging across a second courtyard... she was thoroughly lost.
In desperation, she stared around, looking for a room she could hide in until she was certain that the servant boys would not find her. Her eyes lighted on a small door at the base of a tower – she ran to it, forced back the long-rusted bolt, and slammed it behind her.
Inside the tower was pitch-black. She leaned against the door, her heart thudding so loudly in her chest that she was terrified it would give her away – it must be audible to half the palace!
She took a few deep breaths, closing her eyes, allowing them a moment to adjust to the gloom. The air around her was cold, musty and damp. She shivered as the sweat began to cool on her skin.
When she opened her eyes again, Eliana could see that this tower used to be important. Daylight streamed through a narrow window high above her, illuminating a flight of stairs that twisted up and vanished into the darkness. The steps she could see certainly used to be grand – the bright tiles were dulled by a thick coating of dust, but the vibrant patterns were still just about visible.
She looked about her; there was nothing but the tower steps. Still eager to put as much distance between herself and her assailants as possible, she began to climb.
As she went up and up, her footsteps were muffled by the dust, and there was no sound but the rustle of the bats in the alcoves, the pounding of the blood in her ears, and her own laboured breathing as her already exhausted body contended with the ascent. The dizzying climb seemed endless – as though the steps rose up to the very gate of Marduk's house. There were landings and rooms on the way up, but the doors to all of them were locked.
It took an eternity, but Eliana finally reached the top... only to be confronted by a bricked-up doorway.
She sagged against the wall in disappointment – all this way, for nothing.
The bricks moved beneath her weight as she leaned against them – she gasped and jerked forward again, afraid of toppling backwards with it if the wall fell.
The bricks were plain mud, hastily fired. They crumbled beneath the touch. This wall was plainly not put here for decoration – it was built in a hurry.
Brushing at the mortar, she was surprised to see it flake away under her hands.
Suddenly overwhelmed by curiosity, she began rubbing hard at the mortar, loosening the bricks until she could pull them away and toss them aside, one by one. She worked feverishly: anything to distract herself from her run-in with Susa; she couldn't think about that yet.
Her hands were bleeding by the time she finished. A beautifully preserved door was in front of her. Lightly running her fingertips down the polished wood, she allowed them to linger on the handle before she tried it, holding her breath.
The door opened.
The room beyond was a beautifully decorated – round, following the curve of the tower, and elaborately painted with bright images of young lovers and scenes from the life of Ishtar. The furnishings were moth-eaten now, but Eliana could see that they had been luxurious – almost as luxurious as her own. Silken cushions, sheets, curtains and bed hangings dominated the chamber in a very feminine way. She could see that the bed was immaculately made.
It was dim inside, and the air was dry and cloying. There were a pair of shutters tightly closed across a window on the far side of the room – she crossed the floor, leaving footprints in the dust, and threw back the shutters, allowing light to flood the room.
She could immediately see whereabouts in the palace she was – this was the tallest tower in the place, with a perfect view of the temple Esagila. On the bench below the window was a little token of carved stone – rough-hewn lovers holding hands. She picked it up and turned it over in her palm.
She spun back into the room and screamed, the little stone token clattering to the floor as her hands flew to cover her mouth.
There, half-sprawled across a shrine to Ishtar, was a young girl with her back to Eliana.
'I – I'm so sorry,' Eliana started, shakily. 'I didn't know that anyone was –'
She paused, taking a closer look. The girl was utterly still, her hair fallen across her face, kneeling at the foot of the shrine, her head resting on her arms atop it. She wasn't breathing.
Eliana took a tentative step forward – the skin was a dull grey, and pulled tight on the bones. The girl was dead. Mummified.
Poor thing! Eliana thought, horrified. Bricked up and left to die! Just like...
Eshnunna.
She remembered the story she had been told almost a decade ago. Here was Samsu's sister, still lying in her prison-tomb after all these years.
Afraid to touch her, Eliana knelt at the shrine beside the girl. This poor child had been sentenced to death for her love and spirit, and had died praying to the goddess of love. With tears streaming down her face, Eliana completed the girl's last prayers to Ishtar, and said a silent one of her own to Enlil.
She stayed there for a long while, until the sun began to go down and she remembered that she would be needed in the nursery. With great reluctance, she got to her feet and made her way to the door.
As she descended the stairs, she was overwhelmed with sympathy and respect for the girl who had been brave enough to die rather than live a life dominated by cruel men. Eliana had not had that luxury – with a father and sister's wellbeing then dependent on her good behaviour, and then her baby nieces and eventually her own children to think about, death was not an option. There were too many who relied upon her. In an odd way, she rather envied Eshnunna.
It did not take her long to find her way back to her own apartments, now that she had been able to get her bearings from the tower window. She crept back in the shadows, half-terrified of meeting another of Susa's assassins. She would need to double her guard, she realised, and not leave the apartments unaccompanied for any reason. Nor must any of the children be left alone for any length of time.
Samsu's absence now felt as much of a curse as a blessing.
Slipping back into her apartments, with a glare at Adra, whom she was certain had been party to the whole trap, she decided to arrange Eshnunna's interment as soon as possible. That courageous child had lain unburied for too long.